VFA’s chairman Truong Thanh Phong said many rice exporters had received SMS messages claiming that some companies had contracted to export 500,000 tons and 200,000 tons of rice to Indonesia and Malaysia.

Upon receiving the messages, domestic rice exporters have rushed to buy rice for stock, fearing that prices would soar as there would be a rice shortage in the domestic market, Phong said, adding this had made prices rise by VND400,000 a ton.

He said the rumors could have been spread by some rice speculators, who wanted to boost prices to earn profits.

He affirmed that all such information is false, adding Vietnam has enough rice stock to stabilize the domestic market.